Roof Shingles – Wholesale, Aluminum & Solar Panel

Roof Shingles - Oct 26,2012 - No Comment

Sometimes choosing roofing shingles colors can become one of the hardest, most acrimonious and frustrating parts about constructing your home or re-roofing the building. Many home owners simply aren’t aware that there’s such a vast range of choice when it comes to roofing shingles colors, or realize how much of an impact the color of your roof can have on the way your building will look when it’s done.

What at first glance appears a casual choice of one’s favorite color quickly becomes stressful when you realize that with a wrong choice, your roof may stick out like a sore thumb in your neighborhood! That’s one reason why selecting the right color for your roof shingles is so important.

If you are not very discerning about color (or have an element of color blindness), then you won’t even notice minor nuances in color and shade. All roofs may look pretty much identical to you. But actually roofing shingle manufacturers come out with a wide range of asphalt shingle colors. You can find shingles in practically any kind of shade or mixture of colors.

When you observe a shingle closely, you’ll see how there are many grains that make up the asphalt covering, and are multi-colored. When you purchase the shingles earlier on, you can pick a paint and color scheme for your building itself based on the shade of your certainteed shingles and lowes.

Your roof is easily the part of your house that will instantly catch the eye of a visitor. Many are visible from a distance. And since it isn’t easy or cheap to have your roof re-done once it is installed, it behooves you to spend some time and effort on deciding on the right roofing shingle manufacturers and the roofing shingle colors you want to use. Remember, you’ll have to live with the consequences of this decision – so choose wisely!

So what roofing shingles colors should you pick? It depends on how the rest of your house will be painted. The shades should match what the house itself will look like. Think about both the trim and the siding, and decide if the one you’re thinking of for your roof will go well with it. For instance, yellow color walls go nicely with black shingles, and green houses might match with brown or gray roofing.

It usually doesn’t work well if you try to be daring with your selection when re-roofing. What you want to aim for there is to ensure your property matches and harmonizes with other houses in the neighborhood. You don’t want your place to look like the odd man out. See what color themes others in your area have used, and go with roofing shingles colors that are similar.

The certainteed shingles and lowes you’ll use are impacted by how the weather is in your area. Light colors help in hotter climes because they lessen the build up of heat. White or very pale colored shingles and lowes reflect light and reduce heat. In cooler climates, dark colored shingles and tiles will absorb heat and reduce your energy needs for warming the building.

You may sometimes require assistance in selecting the right roofing shingles colors. Be sure to ask for help from a specialist. Don’t worry about how much you may have to pay for this service. Considering how big an expense your house is, this will not be significant. Also, if your neighbors are expert at this from their own experience, then you may be able to ask them for help and guidance.

Hopefully all this will help you in pick the right roofing shingles colors for your building. Good luck with finding the right kind of asphalt shingle colors and lowes for your dream home.

What Are The Different Types of Roofing Shingles and How To Choose The Best?

Roof Shingles - Oct 25,2012 - No Comment

Different types of roofing shingles are used in installing roofs in home and office buildings these days. Broadly, architectural shingles come in two forms – asphalt and wood. Wooden shingles are not as common as they once used to be, and are confined to a tiny niche including ornamental roofing and expensive ornate construction projects with big budget owners.

Asphalt shingles are the preferred roofing material for most home owners, primarily because they are less expensive, readily available and can withstand the elements making it suitable for roofing even in homes where weather can be harsh and inclement. While estimates vary, asphalt roofing typically lasts for twenty to thirty years.

Types of Roofing Shingles – Asphalt Roofing

There are 3 major categories of asphalt shingles including organic asphalt, laminated organic asphalt and fiberglass asphalt. Each kind is unique and manufactured by different companies, each of which specializes in one or two kinds of shingles. Roofers may disagree about which kind of architectural shingles is best, but the correct choice depends upon more than just what kind you will use. Preparation of the roof and correct installation matter equally.

While doing re-roofing jobs, the old roof is torn down completely even when it is functional. Without doing this, it is impossible to say for sure whether or not the roof sheathing underneath needs to be fixed. Indications that this may be required come when you can see water damage, fungus infestation or rot in some parts of the building. A visual inspection after the shingles are completely removed will quickly identify such leaks.

Selecting Architectural Shingles For Replacement

After any damaged areas in the roof sheathing are fixed, and all roofing accessories are installed, you’re ready to install roofing shingles. The hardest part can be selecting which types of roofing shingles to opt for. Not only are there different brands to pick from, but also multiple colors and designs. Make sure you study the basics of selecting asphalt shingles wisely and you’ll be safe.

When you’re shopping around, don’t settle for the first deal you come across. Get quotes from various manufacturers on the kind of roofing shingles you’ve chosen. Check with the roofing companies about which shingles they themselves recommend buyers to use, and then research the performance of these kinds online. How the shingles withstand wind resistance, insulate the building against temperature fluctuations and other performance measures must all be considered at this time.

Buying Asphalt Shingles

While constructing a new roof can be a major activity, there’s no need to worry too much if you do some basic research and work with a good contractor. The hard part is picking the right type of asphalt shingles which will resist weather conditions and last long. Going with a popular national brand can ensure quality standards are met. To be sure of getting a good price, you may want to seek multiple quotes from different manufacturers before selecting one. The good news is that there are many online resources you can use to compare between vendors and get a great deal.

Your roofing contractor will generally want to do a complete job of roof installation. The roof decking may need replacement. An ice and water shield is put into place, taking care to ensure that it’s lapping over the drip edge. Gables must be sufficiently protected as well. Roofing accessories like pipe boots are then installed, with the exact sequence varying depending upon the pitch of your roof. The primary aim is to make sure that water and snow don’t collect on the roof but flow off smoothly.

If you need more information about the types of roofing shingles, check out the other articles on this site which address specific elements of the process to replace or construct a new roof with asphalt shingles or architectural shingles.

Roof Repair Costs – What Will The Cost Be?

Roof Repair - Oct 24,2012 - No Comment

High roof repair costs can be cause for concern for homeowners. Unless you are going for complete roof replacement, most roof repair jobs are done by installing new shingles over existing ones. But, again the maximum number of times you can do re-roofing is over two layers of roofing shingles. Beyond that you are supposed to go for complete removal of all three layers and laying of new shingles. Apart from this you need to replace the plywood, sheathing and shields. Using roofing cement you also re-seal all the seams. This is called patch work.

Other parts of roof repair costs include replacing flashing which seals off any gaps around the skylights, chimneys and other vents, the job of guttering, installing ridge vents and so on. Most homes have roof area of around 100 square feet. Homeowners attempt to repair roof using roofing cement. This isn’t a very cost-effective approach as the repair tends to patchy at most.

Get more roof repair costs info in this detailed article. Check it out now!

How Solar Shingles Can Shrink Your Electricity Bill?

Roof Shingles - Oct 24,2012 - No Comment

Solar shingles are back in fashion – and with a bang! Here’s why solar shingles have caught the fancy of home owners all over again. Federal and State Governments offer attractive subsidies for home owners who harness clean, green energy sources into their buildings. Cutting down on energy costs in an economy of rising fuel and power costs appeals to the inherent frugality of many consumers. And some of us are genuinely motivated by the idea of keeping the environment clean, healthy and safe for future generations.

While all these factors have powered the comback of solar shingles, there is one engineering feat that has sustained the revolution. Where older solar panels and solar shingles were the size of billiard tables and were placed on cumbersome racks atop your building, modern solar shingles are an aesthetic delight and technical marvel. Incorporating complex circuitry right within the material that makes up the shingle – asphalt, slate, asbestos or other – the shingles match the design and color of the building while being energy efficient at the same time.

Installing Solar Shingles

Solar shingles are installed in the same way as traditional roofing shingles. The building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology allows sunlight striking the roof to directly generate solar power which is harnessed and used right away, stored in capacitors for later, or even sold back to the power company in the form of credits against a household’s energy bills. Once the solar shingles are laid, an electrician must hook up the wires together and plug them into the existing electrical system in the building.

So how much energy can be generated by solar shingles? While the power generated by single solar roof tiles may not be enough to power more than a 100 watt lightbulb for an hour or run a window fan for a few more, the collective effect of many solar shingles can easily power an entire household’s needs for a day. This does not mean that a solar shingle powered building will not need regular electrical energy. Typically, solar shingles will be supplemented by conventional power grid driven energy which kicks in towards the evenings as solar generated power drops, or during cloudy weather or cold seasons.

Cost of Solar Shingles Generated Power

How expensive is it to install a solar shingles powered roof and what do solar shingles cost? A 2 kilo-watt BIPV system that’s installed on your roof can cost around $15,000. But that’s not your actual expense. Federal tax rebates will slash nearly $2,000 of this cost, and the savings on your electrical bills will further decrease your effective financial outlay. Most solar shingle roofs will easily pay for themselves in a very short time span.

Is solar shingle derived power really cheap? Not at the moment. The cost of the power generated by solar shingles will depend upon the intensity and duration of sunlight your building receives. This means the same system in a home that’s located in a sunny area like New Mexico will throw off more power than one in the northern United States. However, since a large part of your cost savings come from cutting down on your energy and utilities bills, you may find that you actually save more from the lesser power generated in a city like Boston simply because the rates charged by your electricity company are much higher.

Solar shingles technology is going mainstream. Cost may not be a major limiting factor for much longer. The cost of power generated from solar shingles has gone down by almost 70% since the 1970s and is steadily decreasing. Research into how to make solar panels that are more effective and systems that laminate solar shingles to embed photovoltaic (PV) cells within semi-transparent glass panels sounds promising, and may soon lead to solar powered super-skylights!

Replacing Roof Shingles

Roof Shingles - Oct 23,2012 - No Comment

The next time you venture out and look at your house with a look of satisfaction and pride, give some time to look at the torn and broken shingles on the roof too. You have lived in the house for a long time and have upgraded the wall paint almost every year, made a sauna in the bathroom and kept your lawn like a golf course tee. It is now time to ensure that the roof of the house too is in fine shape. It is time that the broken and vacant shingles in the house are replaced. If you miss them now, you run the risk of causing further and serious damage to the structure of the house and of course, leaking roofs!

What does it take to replace a torn or a damaged roof? Apparently it takes nothing. In case you are confident to scale the roof height and do some help to your own roof, go ahead and do it. It is however advisable to take an opinion from an experienced roofer.

You can learn more about how to replace roof shingles, and any other necessary tools and instruments to help with it.

By Steven Briesemeister

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Briesemeister

http://EzineArticles.com/?Replace-Roof-Shingle—Roofing-Tools-and-Procedures&id=257769

Architectural Shingles – How To Shingle A Roof With Them?

Roof Shingles - Oct 23,2012 - No Comment

Architectural shingles are an elegant and stylish way to roof a building. They give your home an attractive and rich three dimensional appearance. But the aesthetic appeal is not the only attraction of using architectural shingles. They are also highly effective roofing materials, preventing leaks and seepage and offering fantastic protection against extremes of weather. They are also durable and last for between 40 and 50 years typically.

There are some drawbacks to using architectural shingles for your roofing needs. For one, they are more expensive than asphalt shingles. You need to take care not to waste them by breakage during installation. That’s why going with a professional roofer may be a wise decision if you intend installing an architectural shingle roof. However a do-it-yourself approach could work provided you learn how to do it right and have all the necessary tools.

The first thing to do is carefully measure your roof. This will give you an idea of how many shingles and felt rolls (for the underlayment) you will need. Professional roofers generally measure roofs in squares. A 10 foot square area usually will need 3 bundles of shingles to roof.

Once you’ve calculated your architectural shingles requirement, you must remove the old roofing remnants like prior shingles, underlayment and flashing. This may require a scraper, or a shingle ripper. If you’re re-roofing an old roof, be sure to clean it completely before installing the new shingles.

Placing the underlayment felt on the roof and starting from the lower edge, you must then roll the felt horizontally. If you reach any obstacle like a chimney or dormer, cut the felt roll at that point and continue beyond. As you move up the roof, be sure to overlap each row of felt. Continue with this until the entire roof area is covered.

The bottom end of flashing must be nailed to the roof. All valleys and crevices must be lined with flashing as well. Then start laying the shingles by cutting tabs off the top of your architectural shingles. Nail them into the roof edge. Continue with this starter course and go around the perimeter of the roof. Then lay the real course of architectural shingles.

Each shingle is attached with 3 nails, one in the middle and one each at the corners. Keep laying the shingles sequentially as you work around the roof. Be sure to seal any gaps near vents, chimneys or projections using roofing tar. Place ridges along the peak, making sure you nail them securely into place with roofing nails.

Three tab shingles are stronger than dimensional shingles because they are fastened more securely with 3 nails per shingle. This allows them to resist winds as gusty as 120 mph. But these days, dimensional architectural shingles are becoming more popular. Because the craftsmanship that goes into architectural shingles is better, these roofing shingles are tougher, more dense and of greater thickness yet at the same time are not much heavier than other shingles.

One final benefit of using architectural shingles is that they are usually easier to apply. Roofing contractors can do a speedy job of installing an architectural shingle roof and therefore the expense of laying such a roof is also lower.

Asphalt Roofing – Problems and Pitfalls Home Owners Must Know About

Roof Repair - Oct 22,2012 - No Comment

Asphalt roofing is the most frequently used roofing material in many parts of the country. Asphalt shingles are usually composed of a base of fiberglass in which other granules are embedded, and a coating layer superimposed. The base material is what gives asphalt roofing its strength and durability. The asphalt component helps resist wear and tear due to extremes of weather. Granules in the tiles protect the roof against radiant heat and preserve the shingle colors from fading over time.

Asphalt roofing has a long durability, with typical lifespans being 15 to 20 years. There are many factors that determine how long your asphalt roofing will last, including the thickness of your shingle layer (thicker shingles last longer) and shingle color (lighter shades will reflect more heat). This is the reason many home owners prefer light colored asphalt shingles that are thicker and stronger.

When it comes to longevity of asphalt roofing, there are other factors at play as well.

Roof slope

When you have a steep roof, asphalt shingles are likely to last longer. This is because water and snow do not remain on the roof for long periods, sliding off the roof. There isn’t any pooling which could make the material leak or loosen the shingles. Flat roofing systems, on the other hand, accumulate damp for a longer period, making it more likely that they will get damaged.

Brightness

Ultraviolet light rays damage roofing shingles. In brighter areas where more UV radiation strikes the roof covering, wear and tear of the asphalt roofing is more likely. The portions of the roof that are relatively protected against the direct rays of the sun are likely to be less damaged.

Aeration

Roofs that receive excellent air flow and are quicker to dry out are often better maintained over time and last longer. Ventilation permits cooling of the undersurface of your asphalt roofing, which in turn prolongs the longevity. The intelligent use of gable vents, ridge vents and attic vents can help aerate your roof well.

Defective Shingles

Asphalt roofing that utilizes faulty shingles is more prone to early damage. Just because shingles are on sale, don’t compromise on quality. Heat splitting is the most frequent manufacturing defect that affects asphalt shingles.

Extreme Weather

Harsh extremes of heat and cold will cause your asphalt roofing to wear away faster. Cold and damp climates are particularly damaging. Make sure to select the right kind of roofing material to match local weather conditions.

Asphalt Roofing Shingle Problems

While the other problems mentioned above affect all asphalt roofing, there are specific problems related to asphalt shingles including:

Heat cracking – Thin fiberglass layers in the shingle causes it to crack and split easily, or tear off the roof. Changes in climate conditions worsen this effect.

Thinning out – Sometimes asphalt roofing shingles thin out in the middle, becoming somewhat bent out of shape. It happens in older roofs, and makes the shingles very brittle and prone to snapping if someone walks on them.

Loss of granules – The granules embedded within the shingles can fall out over time. This causes exposing the interior of shingles which are then subject to further damage from the elements.

Curling – As your asphalt roofing ages, another sign of wear and tear may be the edges becoming curled. Again, the shingles are very brittle at this stage and need to be replaced promptly.

Fish mouth changes – When shingle tabs separate and move apart, they may open up between layers, giving the impression of an open mouth of a fish. It is more often seen in moist climates and in roofs without adequate venting. This is a problem that goes beyond just shingle faults and needs more comprehensive repairs.

Asphalt roofing is a stable, economical and reliable roof solution. But at the same time, there are some inevitable risks and dangers with using them. Home owners should be aware of these drawbacks and be watchful to institute corrective measures at the earliest sign of faults.

Asphalt Roofing Shingles – How To Upgrade Your House?

Roof Shingles - Oct 21,2012 - No Comment

By using only the best roofing materials while building your house, not only will you end up with a good looking and modern construction, you will also be creating an asset with a higher resale value. The roof is among the most critical components of your home, as it protects every other part from the ravages of weather and elements. Building your roof in the best possible way can be one of the most important decisions you make while constructing.

A good roof can enhance and strengthen every other part of the house. There are many choices of roofing material from which you can select. They are slightly different in their capacity to protect your home from weather like rain, snow and wind. Depending on where in the world you live, your needs and therefore choices of roofing material may differ.

Some roofing material like asphalt roofing shingles have specific advantages and benefits. Each kind of roof constructing material has a unique set of them as well. Rubber, metal, slate and concrete are most often used for roofing. Shingles made of these materials are easy to install. Not only that, they are fire-resistant and heat resistant which safety proofs a home constructed with them, providing maximum protection for your house.

Asphalt roofing shingles are a practical cost effective choice for most homeowners and contractors, and that’s the reason why over eighty percent of home owners use it for new roofs or for repairs and replacements. Asphalt roofing lasts as long as 25 to 50 years, and most manufacturers will offer you a matching warranty. Asphalt shingles upgrade your home and increase its resale value in a very real way.

Depending on the type of reinforcement they used, asphalt roofing shingles come in two forms – organic and fiberglass. On one hand, fiberglass shingles are better at being fire and moisture resistant. But organic shingles are tougher and have high tear strengths. They are also more wind resistant and can be better suited for cold temperatures. Both shingles are highly recommended and come with high scores on testing by the ASTM, a society for testing and materials.

The strength and durability of asphalt roofing shingles depends upon the quantity and quality of asphalt fillers, as well as surface granules and material used in reinforcement. When selecting roofing materials for your construction, you will not only look for such durability but also aesthetic appeal. A roof should enhance the beauty of your home, while at the same time giving you protection against the elements, and if possible some energy efficiency as well to avoid high energy bills.

Asphalt roofing shingles have all these advantages, and provide excellent insulation by reducing heating (and cooling) expenses of your house. That’s another reason why these have become the best and most popular premium residential roofing material choice.

Fitting the material you choose in a way that adds value to you house should not be rocket science. And asphalt roofing shingles are simple and easy to install, and can be done in an affordable way. Taking the help and guidance of a professional contractor may be necessary initially if you don’t have any experience with roof fitting.